Annapolis bankruptcy boutique law firm adds two, seeks more

In the latest instance of bankruptcy lawyers switching firms, two attorneys from Linowes & Blocher LLP have left to join a small practice in Annapolis.

James A. Vidmar and Paul M. Sweeney left their longtime posts at Bethesda-based Linowes & Blocher earlier this month to join Sean Logan and Lawrence Yumkas in their Annapolis bankruptcy practice.

The new firm is Logan, Yumkas, Vidmar & Sweeney LLC. A fifth partner, James Schraf, was formerly senior attorney at Logan & Yumkas.

Richard M. Zeidman, managing partner of Linowes & Blocher, said his firm will not lessen or alter its bankruptcy focus in the wake of Vidmar and Sweeney's departure.

"It's actually a great opportunity for the rest of the group," he said, pointing out that Linowes still has a partner, a counsel and an associate doing bankruptcy work. "The practice is, I think, doing quite well and will continue to do very well."

In a time where bankruptcy law is an in-demand specialty, Vidmar and Sweeney are only the latest bankruptcy attorneys to make their move. In February 2008, five lawyers left Saul Ewing LLP's bankruptcy group to join Cole, Schotz, Meisel, Forman & Leonard P.A. In January of this year, Thomas & Libowitz P.A.'s bankruptcy group moved to Rosenberg|Martin|Greenberg LLP.

Since the bankruptcy field is hopping, Logan, Yumkas, Vidmar & Sweeney is actually looking to hire more lawyers and staff. While Yumkas said the firm does not have a target number it wishes to hit, Vidmar said he would be surprised if the firm did not have 10 attorneys by this time next year.

The firm did not advertise the positions but has nevertheless gotten stacks of resumes, Yumkas said.

Logan, Yumkas, Vidmar & Sweeney is styling itself as a bankruptcy boutique sized and priced appropriately for the Maryland-D.C.- Northern Virginia market. The lawyers emphasize that three of them - - Sweeney, Vidmar and Yumkas -- are past presidents of the Bankruptcy Bar Association for the District of Maryland.

The firm is associated with an insolvency consultancy, Annapolis Consulting Group Ltd., with which it shares offices and personnel.

The practice has a focus on bankruptcy related to the real estate industry; Vidmar, for example, represents several insolvent real estate developers and builders.

Yumkas said the firm is able to handle many of those cases via workouts instead of bankruptcy.

Lenders are "far more motivated now to work with the debtors," he said.

The firm hopes to grow its business on the Eastern Shore, where the real estate industry is really hurting. The first real estate decision people make in a downturn is dumping their second home, Vidmar said.

"Ocean City has gotten clobbered," he said. There were "many projects coming online in Ocean City just as the crash broke."
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